Heralds
Heralds beyond the "local" level can defend themselves VERY effectively using magic items of tremendous power that come with their office. However, you're quite correct in saying they do nothing by force. What they do is censure -- and because they establish noble rankings (precedence) outside the walls of a city or the borders of a realm those old-money Waterdhavian nobles may cut your newly-married-into-junior-noble family noble dead at a ball in Waterdeep, but the Heralds, not the old-money nobles, determine your ranking versus them if you both show up at a dinner in [[Scornubel] and squabble over who gets the best seat; ditto nobles of Cormyr, and this is especially important for folk of Sembia or the Border Kingdoms, where all titles are recent, fanciful, and often invented by their current holders], and legitimize status, very few people dare to argue. For example, if I as a baron show up at a temple that stands in my own barony and demand audience, dinner, a bed for the night, or some assistance from the temple, and the Heralds dispute my title or my ranking, the priests will politely refuse me, as "an impostor," even if they KNOW I'm the rightful title holder -- because the judgement of the Heralds affects even THEIR status (again, not within their faith, but in the eyes of the wider Realms around them). Mercenary companies bow to the Heralds too, because it's the word of the Heralds will be their only defense in instances of someone else using their battle-standards and committing atrocities whilst impersonating them. Again, the Heralds say nothing about the recruiting or behaviour of mercenaries, only about what blazons, "colours," and badges they use. In the case of someone adding that second charge and it being reported to a local Herald, the local Herald would consult his/her rolls. If they had ANY suspicion that this use was unlawful, they'd report it to a superior right away (so if anything subsequently happens to them, the warning stands). Mistreating, threatening, harming or slaying, or magically influencing a Herald is grounds for instant dismissal from whatever rank you have . . . so it's a meaningless punishment only to a brigand ("robber baron") or a royal heir, who will still be of royal blood whatever they do. Everyone else LOSES their noble or gentle status, and can expect to be pointedly NOT recognized in negotiations (no one will sign contracts or treaties with them, no one will swear fealty to them, and so on, until the Heralds publicly pardon them, which will usually take a LOT of redress and grovelling). Royalty in disfavour can still inherit thrones and the like, but can't rule effectively without that pardon, which means they must either abdicate in favour of offspring or rule through a Regent. All of this means the Heralds rarely have to actually enact censure; the threat is usually enough. Remember, the Heralds do nothing if you practise regicide, have a civil war, unlawfully torture or trump up charges against rivals or rightful rulers . . . they only care about the arms you use, and how you use them, and the lineage you claim. In the case of a self-assumed blazon (e.g. my earlier words: "but if you add a hunting horn (a 'second charge') or a motto, or a formal coat-of-arms on a shield-shaped field"), a Herald will show up, usually with a Harper or outlander merchant, plus a priest of Oghma and some outlanders with titles (knights of a distant realm) as witnesses/bodyguards, and politely insist on an audience with the offender. At that audience, the Herald will explain the transgression, and request that the offender cease, immediately and forever, using this offending blazon or displaying any arms beyond a simple single-charge badge -- or on the spot petition the Heralds for formal permission to officially use the blazon. Most Heralds can tell at a glance if a blazon needs changes, and will order them, but there are a few "borderline" cases that will be passed to more senior Heralds for judgement. It's up to the Herald whether or not the offender has to obscure (or can use) the blazon until it's approved, modified, or denied. (In practise, this decision has a lot to do with the attitude of the offender.) The penalties for failure to comply will be politely explained (and confirmed by the witnesses), and then it's up to the offender. Fees, if any, come later and are modest, typically being demanded only if the person petitioning for the blazon wants the skilled artists the Heralds can call on (whose identities they keep secret) to render a full (huge plaque, for wall or door) coat of arms, a grant of arms (on vellum) in triplicate, a painted shield or shield cover, and a banner. Once these have been delivered and the fees paid, the petitioner is free to make as many copies as they like, and will be instructed on how much they can modify these copies without "offending against the Law of Arms" (the VERY complicated and ever-being-revised private code kept by the Heralds). Battle-banners (of mercenaries or formal armed forces) can be augmented with devices to commemorate battles without express permission of the Heralds, do long as these augmentations are done in approved ways (which the Heralds will freely explain, if asked, and most sages and army veterans also know) So NOTHING will physically "stop" your yahoo adventurer from making up his own full coat of arms and outfitting his private army in like fashion -- so long as he never has to enter into a treaty, contract, or any other formal agreement with anyone, or avail himself of any services of a priesthood. The choice is his. :} The Heralds don't pass moral judgements on the taste expressed in blazons, or upon the legitimacy of holders -- as long as the holders haven't been informed by a Herald of the Laws of Arms as pertaining to them personally, and then ignored those instructions. The Heralds are kept so busy in the Border Kingdoms and Sembia that they DO charge up-front fees for blazons (NOT self-bestowed titles, only the use of arms, remember), typically 250 gp per person, once per grant of arms, in the Border Kingdoms, and 5,000 gp for the same thing in Sembia (reduced to 2,000 for unmarried sons and daughters of less than twelve winters in age, though the moment marriage occurs or the titled parent dies, the "short" 3,000 gp fee must be paid or use of the arms has to cease until it is paid. So Sembia and the Borders are full of "Lords" who have no arms, or use only a single device (a crescent moon, or a slantwise dagger) as a badge. In practise, the Heralds will let an individual add a sheath/scabbard, ribbons, drops of blood, and a severed hand gripping a weapon without considering it a "second charge" and worthy of their attention, but adding a field or a second, crossed weapon is definitely a "second charge." The Border Kingdoms even boast dozens of Emperors of various sorts and stylings, and only a few of them have the right to a blazon. Land ownership, by the way, means nothing to the Heralds -- but it may matter very much to a kingdom, and if the King or High Chamberlain of Realm X says you can't be a Baron of X because you don't own a barony, maintain troops and castles for the King, and so on, then the Heralds will side with that complaint, and tell you to either depart the realm or remove the part of your title that alludes to the geographical region of the realm (i.e. you can still be "Baron Karth," but not "Baron Karth of the Stonelands"). The Heralds are VERY good at noticing and denying attempts to allude to a locale by an ancient name, or claim ties to a fallen or vanished realm, and so on, and FROWN VERY SEVERELY on such distortions. If, on the other hand, you can prove your lineage entitles you to bear a title that the King or High Chamberlain is denying you, the Heralds will insist on you being accorded it -- which is why there are lots of titled folk permanently on exile all over the Realms, far from the lands they claim. And no, there isn't a lot of difference between "an openly acknowledged nobleman and a rich jerkweed with a fortified ranch house and a vivid imagination for making up silly titles" except for the Herald's blessing. :} In the case of the trade in magic you postulate, I would say the two mages involved would call in a priest or priestess of Mystra to (secretly) handle the exchange. Only clerical superiors would know about it, and even then, they'd only know WHAT was being exchanged and not BETWEEN WHOM (unless they were personally nosy and did some eavesdropping). This is one of the chief "daily uses" of clergy of Mystra: being neutral dispute councillors and trade facilitators between justifiably-paranoid mages. This "calling in" would work like this: "Will you accept Shreena handling this?" (Suspiciously:) "Who's Shreena?" "Anointed of Mystra, of the Weavehouse temple. You know, the tall quiet one with the green eyes and the hair down to here. Stands behind the scrying font sometimes, when you come to pray." "Oh, aye. Her. All right. Shall you go to her first, or shall I?" "You decide, but I want this to be open: whichever one of us goes tells the name of the other to her. I don't want her giving either of us funny looks for a tenday while she wonders who's going to show up as the 'other half.'" "I'll go. Tomorrow morn acceptable?" "Yes. Leave word here if you can't get to speak to her, and let that word be 'skyblue.' If no message is left, I'll assume you have, and go to see her myself tomorrow even." And so on. Some mages view it as an honour to have a Chosen of Mystra act as their go-between, and others shun this because of the notice others may take of what they're up to, as a result. In some VERY rare instances, mutually trusted persons who have no magic will be agreed-upon as go-betweens (other clergy, a monarch, perhaps even a person beloved by both mages). These sort of groups form and dissolve (often silently "fading away" rather than acrimoniously breaking up) all the time. Here are four long-lived ones: The Dalethnar (named for Daleth, the very successful and wealthy caravan company owner of eastern Amn and Tethyr), a merchants' group that meets, usually twice a year, in various strategic Heartlands trading centers to discuss matters of shipping (such as tariffs, inspections by the authorities of various governments, remounts and provisioning, and collective response to brigandry, weights/measures and standardized containers, attempted bans/trade controls by rulers or priesthoods, and so on). Formerly dominated by Amnians, but the Sembians are muscling in. The Ravens (this is what everyone calls the Conclave of Ravens except its members), a gathering every two years, at a different independent and usually isolated (but with multiple routes in and out, and not a lot of nearby cover) settlement in Faerun, of mercenaries. The Ravens discuss rules of conduct, which patrons (often rulers) will "go under the ban" or be limited in how many members they can hire or what conditions will be imposed on their hirings, by member "swords," thanks to their treatment of members in the recent past (for example, scapegoating and executing mercenaries after said hireswords were put in militarily impossible situations, or framed for things they did not do). Mirt of Waterdeep was briefly a member, back in his days as Mirt the Merciless, mercenary swordcaptain. The Starflame, a "court of conduct" for independent mages that meets in Scornubel at least once a year (but more often if crises arise) to debate laws and treatment of independent arcane spellcasters by various rulers (and priesthoods, and costers, and guilds). This cabal (as most non-members refer to it) has fallen silent, or retired into secrecy, several times over four centuries or so, but risen to public prominence time and again. Famous/infamous members have briefly included the Blackstaff (Khelben Arunsun), Sememmon of the Zhentarim, and Lauraud, one of the Sceptanars (city rulers in Chessenta). Punishment only consists of expelling individuals from Starflame deliberations and banning them from joining or rejoining (until specific redresses made), and warning Starflame members of bad conduct so they know to be wary of certain individuals. Rulers who have cited Starflame information and decisions publicly include those of Telflamm, Westgate, and Memnon, but the public doesn't know if "support" in any of these places extends any farther than that. Athaenul's Seat, a gathering of livestock breeders large and small (dominated by "large") that usually assembles somewhere along the Heartlands "Throat" trade routes (linking the Sword Coast with The Sea of Fallen Stars, through Berdusk, Iriaebor, Priapurl, and other nearby settlements) to discuss prices, breeding, diseases, laws enacted by various rulers, feed crops - - and, detractors of this group insist, ways of arranging shortages so as to keep prices higher than they should be. Many noble houses of Cormyr have taken to quietly attending the Seat, not to mention Waterdhavian noble houses such as the Roaringhorns. Category:Political organizations